The present invention relates generally to a tile mounting system and, more particularly, to a system for mounting tiles of stone or other appropriate material to diverse types of supporting structures.
There is substantial interest in the construction industry for prefabricated systems to facilitate the covering of walls, ceilings and other surfaces with marble, ceramic and other natural or artificial stone materials. In this regard, it is known, to manufacture such materials in the form of slabs or "tiles" of rectangular or other polygonal shape which can be mounted to a supporting surface one by one to form an array of tiles for covering the surface.
Typically, the tiles are affixed to and locked in position on the supporting surface by being bonded to a bed of cement mortar or other bonding agent which has been initially applied to the supporting surface. In connection with this procedure, applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,910 discloses an apparatus for laying an array of tiles onto a supporting surface which includes a plurality of spacer elements which extend between adjacent tiles in such a manner as to ensure that all the tiles lie in a common plane and that the spacing between adjacent tiles is accurate and uniform throughout the array.
Because of their substantial weight, it is also usually desirable to firmly anchor the tiles to the wall or other supporting body on which they are mounted. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,910, the tiles are anchored by S-shaped anchoring elements which extend from the spacer elements into holes formed in the supporting body and which are fixed in the holes by filling the holes with cement mortar.